Final Days of Planet Earth (2006– ) User Reviews

Great title, Bad Movie ...

[Vic_max · 3/10 · 15 October 2006]

This movie was interesting for about the first 10 minutes or so. Then, soon after the lead character started talking, the movie's stock started to drop and never recovered. Although the makings of a decent movie are present in the tone, basic story line and actors, this movie ended up being 3 hours of discomfort. The main problem was that none of the characters were likable - especially the lead. Worst yet, they were not even believable - some of the decision making was ridiculous. With 3 hours of length (well, more like 132 minutes since it was on TV), the bad decisions were not even used to advance the plot. I think the actors had much more potential than was demonstrated. The best things about this movie were the music and title. I don't recommend watching this movie.

But You Have to Admit...It's a Beautiful Scarf...

[joebridge · 3/10 · 26 March 2006]

Oh no. Oh my. Oh my goodness. Where do I even begin? The highly unique idiocy of this movie made for the telly is so jaw-dropping, I would almost recommend watching it because of how strange it is in terms of bad writing.

I'm amazed that the lead character didn't react more after they just decided to cover an area with concrete instead of looking for the missing person.

What sort of job requires recording sounds from the ground that are scaring off all the birds? Yes, I know you don't have to report every time bird droppings are out of place and I hope you reincarnate as a worm to be eaten by a cheerful little robin! Right.

Okay, so you've determined an area is full of dangerous explosive gasses. So what do you do? Light a match and throw it down into the area below your feet with the explosive gasses, just to make sure. Right.

What in the world is going on with this scarf business? Yes, it's a beautiful scarf. Let's talk about your beautiful scarf for awhile. Let's all pause and consider how wearing this beautiful scarf makes you so out of place with the rest of humanity. Hey, wait a minute. Lots of women wear scarves. Okay, you've lost me again. Seriously.

Let's all sit at city hall, but first let's ask why everyone is there, to make sure no one is there for an actual reason! Make sure there's a door that looks like it belongs on a submarine or on "Lost". Every public office has this, of course. No reason to be suspicious... Just open the submarine hatch and go right on in! Let's all race downstairs and help the guy we don't know and kill everyone that looks like a doctor! Wait. Did I miss something?

So the astronut, yes you heard me right, astroNUT, is "kryptonite to the aliens"? A fact brought up a couple of times. But why? Is he the only one in the entire world with "kryptonite blood"? Why? Please tell me more about why, instead of all the endless talk about scarves!

Okay, so they make a very big deal about how these aliens, whilst in human guise, never blink. So why did the lead character never notice the queen not blinking in all that time he had spent with her? Well? He certainly took notice within about a second of the public servant not blinking! Even the fact that they "don't blink" was one of the first things mentioned by the "astronut" when they rescued him. Actually, they do blink - especially the queen. Now I'm confused... They only seem to "never blink" during close-ups when they are trying very hard not to blink. Heh.

What in the world is the business where the lead character goes all the way around, up through the chute, and through the processing area AGAIN, just to get back and spy on the queen in a room upstairs? And by some strange coincidence, the aliens always seem to be gone when people are doing stuff like this? Except for that conspiracy bloke, of course. "The Lone Alien" (not even with his trusty side-kick) just happened to be there at the time!

The alien queen just had to say that line about being better off mating with a human, didn't she? Didn't she?

Is it just me, or did the motives of the queen, and in fact, the motives of almost every character in the movie seem to change from one scene to the next?

Okay, so the gun is empty, but wait, it was only jammed and still conveniently has three bullets later on. Let's make it up as we go along. Weeeeee...

Now tell me. Would you carry around a live grenade everywhere you go, even if it did "save your life" many years earlier? Be honest.

Let's all go shopping! Wait. You lost me again...

My my, the queen certainly laid a lot of eggs, didn't she? My goodness...

Why oh why do they have to call the eggs, the area with the eggs and the events related to the eggs "the hatch"? No, not the submarine hatch to the processing area mentioned earlier nor the hatch on "Lost" that this show replaced this Thursday night!

The part near the end where the lead character admits to not liking people or the human race kind of threw me off and even spoiled the general outcome even more.

And yes, ANYONE could have blown up all the aliens with that flammable atmosphere and the grenade, so what was the big deal about the blood of the astronut? Senseless. It would have been better had he lived so his blood could be used should the aliens return! DUH DUH DUH!

3 out of 10. The last 15 minutes are somewhat likable, but I thought I was watching "Mimic" again, with a couple "Men in Black" elements thrown in! (And for that matter, even "A Bug's Life". Heh.)

Lets trust the Aliens... lol

[Krossphyre · 4/10 · 16 March 2006]

You just got to have loved the line where the old geezer took a vehicle and got caught by the cops in order for everyone else to escape... another in the scene mentioned how basically he was a tough old bird... he'll be right. I couldn't help but think.... "You idiot, those cops are aliens... hes surely going to be more fertilizer... lol. I would have used the characters names in my comment... but the characters were as forgettable as the movie... Oh, i guess it wasn't that bad?

Overall the movie wasn't to bad. I think the biggest failure was that the power the space captain (or whatever he was) had over the aliens really never had a big enough impact on the outcome of the movie. The truth is anyone could have killed the bugs with a grenade. I think his power over them should have itself caused the ultimate demise of the aliens.

The Pits

[moysant · 1/10 · 16 March 2006]

Regular TV shows were taken off two nights for this mini-series, mainly because a rival station was showing the Commonwealth Games and I suppose the channel head honchos thought everyone would be watching the athletes and they had to put on SOMETHING so why not this drivel. This was worse than the recent Category 7 (that awful one with Shannon Doherty in it about the hurricane) and Earthquake 10.5 (about a giant earthquake destroying California). At least those two made some sort of sense. Last Days of planet blah reminds me a lot of V (80s miniseries about snake aliens who have human exteriors and are trying to take over the world when they're not eating live rodents), and a bit like the Day of the Body Snatchers (the pod people taking over humans body when their asleep), but without the suspense or character development. It should've been a TV movie instead of a miniseries - it flowed like molasses. Rule number one of scripts is to cut out anything that doesn't add to the plot. Why then stuff this with pointless scenes, like the hero walking furtively through a large room for about 30 seconds when we've seen the room 3 times before, including him and his friends discussing its purpose at length earlier, as well as the villains coming in later and discussing their dastardly plans just in case we can't connect the dots and get the point? 30 seconds is a looonnngggg time in TV land. Ditto the bad and pointless dialogue between characters sitting in vans waiting for something to happen. Show me that something happening - not the non-value-adding talk in vans! And how they overcome the dastardly villains was lamo.

Even Darryl Hannah couldn't save this one. What was the weird thing with her eyes and forehead? Bad lighting? Bad botox? And why does Australian TV keep buying this crude and why do I feel compelled to watch this trainwreck TV? I blame aliens. 1/10

The Plummet of the Phoenix

[cdimdb · 2/10 · 28 August 2006]

While this terrible mess deserves all the bad things said about it, I have a strong suspicion that the film was not intended to be what finally appeared on the screen. The storyline is simply too screwed-up to have been intentional.

My theory is that the film as published is actually an attempt to resurrect a project that was abandoned without being completed. Perhaps it ran overbudget. Perhaps the principals realised that it would be a dog whatever happened. Perhaps somebody died.

The result was a pile of footage with many scenes unfilmed, and many issues unresolved. Some brave person took this pile of dross and tried to make a coherent movie out of it. Their success was limited, but at least it had a sort-of beginning, a confused middle, and a silly, half-of-an ending. Not having the resources to trim it to normal film length, they made it into a two-parter. Still a disaster, but a little money coming in to cover the completion guarantee.

Well, that's my hope, anyway. Anything to prevent me having to accept that someone actually went out and created this crock on purpose. That would be too much to bear.

CD

Predictable, the special affects weren't that great, weird dialogue, dull and overall boring!

[benjamin-ryan · 2/10 · 16 March 2006]

I decide to watch Final Days of Planet Earth yesterday night and have just finish it early tonight because it replaced Prison Break and there was nothing better to watch. But while I was watching it, quickly I was finding many problems with it that was annoying me this especially happens while I watch a movie that is predictable and when the protagonist does something to further complicate the situation, I know in most movies thats what the plot strives on but it is the way they pulled it off.

The Final Days of Planet Earth starts off by us seeing a space shuttle on its way back to earth from the moon we see a group of astronauts talking and then one of them goes to sleep then in the next scene the one that was sleeping wakes up and it is quiet so he looks around, in he looks through a door with a window and he sees an arm fly pass, thats all we see of that, then we meet walker an archaeologist who in his backyard a ufo crash lands and all of a sudden everyone seems to been acting strangely and people seem to be going missing.

1. The story is like the new Battlestar Galactica where the robot/aliens take the form of humans and the 1950's movie invaders from mars where people get replaced with doubles.

2. I found that it was very hard to get into because it took majority of the first episode to get exciting ( approximately one hour and a half).

3. In key situations it is obvious what is going to happen Eg: The Alien Bugs have capture one of the humans and say that they won't kill him if he tells them where the other humans went, he believes them and tells them where the others when and when the main alien bug leaves they say to the second in command "look after our friend" which is obvious their going to kill him.

4. The person who designed the alien bugs weren't very creative, they are just over-sized praying mantis', which I think one of the humans says there big praying mantis'.

Predictable,the special affects weren't that great, weird dialogue, dull and overall boring not worth watching unless you have spare time or nothing better to do.

Did very little for me, but I actually do think SyFy have done much worse

[TheLittleSongbird · 4/10 · 16 August 2012]

Seeing Final Days of Planet Earth with nothing better to do I saw it with relatively low expectations and actually it is not great by any stretch of the imagination it was a little better than I anticipated. SyFy have done much worse than this. It does have a great title and the cast are better than average, Gil Bellows in a quite charismatic performance faring best. Daryl Hannah has given more natural performances in the likes of Splash and Roxanne but still looks gorgeous and sexy and gives her character the right amount of evilness. The scenery is decent also, and the soundtrack likewise. On the other hand, Final Days of Planet Earth is too long, everything feels very drawn dull and what made the film furthermore dull was that the story is not enough to sustain the running time so felt padded and aimless at certain points. The beginning is also very confused, and there are one too many ridiculous parts to single out. The effects are not as bad as I've seen in other SyFy movies but still look rather slapdash, while the script is stilted in flow and flatly written. The characters are also not that interesting, either coming across as stereotypical, underdeveloped or both, and I wasn't really all that surprised by the Queen's identity. All in all, there has been far worse but at the same time there is nothing to rave about. 4/10 Bethany Cox

mediocre sci-fi flick

[markusws · 3/10 · 11 November 2008]

The good is that Darryl Hannah still looks very good. Gil Bellows is competent as the archaeologist who winds up the hero. The rest of the cast is typical for the venue. The screen time is 170 minutes long, but there is only about half that much material here. A decent editing job that cuts the time down to about 100 minutes would do the trick, but then it wouldn't be a mini-series. Usually it takes some interesting characters that get me personally involved to make me want to root for the heroes, but these guys just don't cut it. Some of the scenes are drawn out too long. The dialog is routinely flat. If it wasn't for being on last thing two nights in a row I probably wouldn't have watched it. It does have a few interesting scenes here and there, and the technical visual effects are interesting in places. If you like sci-fi and don't have anything better to do, watch it. Otherwise, look for more interesting fare.

Enjoyable despite the bad rating

[tripmixx · 7/10 · 11 November 2006]

This is my first time writing a comment here on IMDb. I feel that this TVmovie has been highly underrated here. This is a made for TV movie so I have rated it whit that in mind. In my opinion the story was fairly interesting, the acting was very good for this kind of film and the few special effects where also very good. I for one am glad they continue to make these kind of flicks, there aren't that much scifi being made. So even if it does not have a lot of money it's good that they allow people that have a descent story to tell to make these kind of movies. So my final conclusion is: If you like scifi and know how to enjoy a TVmovie whitout too high expectations this is one for you.

Laughably bad

[RAF__2 · 2/10 · 24 April 2007]

I would have rated this 'movie' a 1, but it did make me laugh, so I was lenient. I am an avid Sci-Fi lover, so I stuck it out and watched the whole thing.

I read all of the other comments that were here before I placed this comment. I agree with all of the comments about lack of plot, continuity and acting, so there's no point in me repeating them.

************ POSSIBLE SPOILER HERE ************** My greatest laugh from the movie was when the 'kryptonite astronaut' said about the human shells that the aliens wore: "They're just bugs, they put their humans on one leg at a time". I really cracked up at that one. ************* END OF SPOILER ********************

I used to go to Sci-Fi conventions when I was in college and make fun of the zombie movies during the films, I would have had no problem doing the same for this one.

Only watch this if you have NOTHING else to do!

way,way above average for this genre

[disdressed12 · 8/10 · 21 May 2007]

this is a really good TV mini-series.it starts off really slow though.but once it gets going,it really improves.you get little hints at a time of what's happening,so you really get hooked.for an alien invasion movie,this one is low key and on a lower scope.this is not a criticism,and if you watch the movie,you'll know what i mean.i really got caught up in this thing.the special effects are not spectacular,but they aren't bad enough to take away from the movie.believe me,there are a lot worse in that dept.the strong part of this movie is the story and the acting of Daryl Hannah.she puts in a very strong performance in this movie.as for the story itself,while it may not be wholly unique, it is well written and well paced.the only thing i was disappointed in is the ending.it wasn't a bad ending,but it just seemed anti-climatic and not that realistic.otherwise,a very good movie.i highly recommend it.for me,"Final Days of Planet Earth" is an 8/10

Entertaining and Underrated

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 10 August 2008]

In the end of the Paracles Mission, an expedition to the moon to explore minerals promoted by the space agency, the commander William Phillips (Campbell Scott) is somehow infected and sent to the Colonial Hospital. A couple of years later, a series of weird accidents happen in San Francisco: the archaeologist Lloyd Walker (Gil Bellows) sees his dig collapsing with his assistant Jonathan (Ryan NcDoneli) and the Commissioner Korshaft (Serge Houde) sealing his site without searching the body of Jonathan; Oliver (Beau Starr), the supervisor of a homeless shelter, finds that the birds have disappeared from the local park due to a weird noise in the underground; and the Bulgarian Bella (Tina Milo) is seeking her missing husband with her brother-in-law Nick (Tygh Runyan). Meanwhile, the entomologist Marianne (Sue Matthew), who works as exterminator to finance her PHD, is invited to work for the City Hall; the salesman Spence (Patrick Gilmore) has problem to receive his unemployment paycheck. Walker befriends the assistant of the Mayor Liz Quinlan (Daryl Hannah), who advises him to meet the ombudsman in the Room 86. However, the journalist Jake Roth (John Cassini) tells Walker that his partner has vanished after visiting the mysterious Room 86. When Walker arrives in Room 86 for the meeting with the ombudsman, he finds Marianne, Oliver, Spence, Bella and Nick in the waiting room with identical recommendation cards. Further, he notes that nobody leaves the room of the ombudsman. He advises Marianne that he would go inside alone and that he is armed, but she believes he is paranoid with a Theory of Conspiracy. However, when Walker enters the place, he discovers the dark secret of the City Hall.

"Final Days of Planet Earth" has a confused beginning with the introduction of different characters without any connection among them. However, later they are gathered together to fight against the alien invader. The plot is not original, using the storyline of the classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"; however, it is entertaining and underrated in IMDb since the story is well-constructed with minor flaws and supported by good acting and special effects. One of the greatest flaws is, for example, when Marianne discovers that the alien insects are affected by her poison, why not using it again along their battle against the invaders? The cover of the DVD released in Brazil is a big spoiler disclosing the human identity of the Queen. My vote is six.

Titrle (Brazil): "Os Últimos Dias do Planeta Terra" ("The Last Days of Planet Earth")

Pure Garbage

[mickbrooke2 · 1/10 · 25 October 2006]

It was this film that brought me back to checking reviews before renting. They had plenty of money, decent actors and a decent idea for a film. But they couldn't have done worse. None of the situations were believable, the dialog was formulaic rubbish & the 'finale' was so implausible it's shocking SPOILER ALERT: (one man's blood was toxic to the creatures, he blew himself up and killed them all in one go!)

Why Hanah took this job is beyond me. I guess she is desperate for work and wanted the exposure - but surely acting in this kind of drivel can only harm whats left of her career.

Avoid, avoid, avoid.

Ridiculous

[ylekiot9 · 2/10 · 21 January 2007]

The plot makes no sense. The characters are random at best. The things people say and do have no grounding in reality. Darryl Hannah and others blink (a lot). No, contrary to some reviewers you will not necessarily like this if you like 50's sci fi movies or whatever. It just is a terrible movie. Here are some things that entertained me about the movie:

Walker lighting a match next to the eggs with no explosion and then being able to throw a match down from 20 feet into the same area (match stays lit!) and kaboom a giant flame shoots up. Bystanders are heard screaming because of the explosion and then no-one pays any attention and goes on about their business-ridiculous!

Sealing the ground with concrete after a man has sunk down in it and disappeared, sparking a rescue operation-ridiculous!

Sitting in a waiting room waiting to see someone and getting suspicious because of all the mysterious things: 1)everyone has a note that says "give first consideration to this candidate" 2)the receptionist doesn't blink-ridiculous!

Sticking a stun gun in someones face because they offer you a tip after you inspect their house for pests-ridiculous!

Giving someone your phone number and "home address" in case they want to contact you-ridiculous!

Walker going to city hall and asking the city engineer why he can't get permission to "continue his dig" after it's been sealed with concrete (and a man is in there dead and lost) and the city engineer says he'll try to get him permission-and to give him a couple of days-ridiculous!

Honestly I couldn't continue to watch something that made no sense-especially in the beginning, where the plot was non-existent and it was just a bunch of random scenes thrown together. This is not the worst movie I have ever seen, as it is somewhat elevated by the fact that it is a science fiction movie and I love science fiction, but the fact is that it is just not watchable. Read a book instead.

Nothing new here, but there is worse out there.

[deralexanderda-29989 · 4/10 · 23 April 2022]

Nothing new here, but there is worse out there. As a TV mini series / 2 parter; it's not so bad. You're not going to find anything original, but it'll kill a few hours. Oh, and as for the reviews criticizing Darryl Hannah's appearance; I have to disagree. Botox or surgery is not blatantly obvious. Her youthful appearance might be the result of good genes and healthy living, and even if she has had some work done, who cares??? She's a Hollywood actress. Surgery isn't exactly unheard of!! People can do whatever they want to xx.

Terrible Movie - Trend in the 2000's

[briane01876 · 1/10 · 7 May 2017]

This might be a spoiler or better yet a time saver as you won't want to see this after reading this review so be warned.

So this is one of those movies in the 2000's that people call B movies but they really aren't they aren't because they're not movies at all.

They are like a long TV-Drama played for 2-3 hours. Every scene is 2 people talking. You can tell with these new-age year 2000's "Horros" / "Sci-Fi's" that it's one of these terrible "reality TV show drama" style movies where their are no interesting backgrounds, there are no thought provoking / stimulating / exciting situations. It's 2 people talking to each other. Seriously skip through the movie a bunch of times, every scene is a conversation in a simple setting. An office, a car, a room. Nothing is going on. They're not even walking anywhere. Every scene is sitting down talking. The movie would actually be MORE EXCITING if they had a guy sitting in a chair READING FROM A SCI FI NOVEL. At least there would be story / action / etc etc etc. You can't just have people talking to each other about nonsense for 3 hours and call that a movie. It's nothing! Don't even vote on this turd !

Serious funny

[suztv-cg · 5/10 · 28 March 2023]

This movie is pretty funny. Everyone is so serious and all talk in serious tones but the script is way hilarious, unintentionally though.

Suspicion of disbelief gets wrecked in the first 20 minutes - missing student and the news isn't jumping up and down screaming about it?

Why are cockroaches always implicated in alien invasions? Yeah lots of roaches - but they're the Madagascar screaming cockroaches that wouldn't be anywhere near North America without human intervention.. or maybe the aliens did it? Anyway - no one seems shocked by them. Hilarious! Giant freaking pile of roaches and no one does the heebie geebie dance?

Get The Bug Spray And Fire Up The Mosquito Fryers - The Aliens Are Among Us.

[P3n-E-W1s3 · 5/10 · 26 May 2022]

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of The Final Days Of Planet Earth; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 1.00 Direction: 0.75 Pace: 0.75 Acting: 1.50 Enjoyment: 1.25

TOTAL: 5.25 out of 10.00

I do like a good sci-fi creature-feature invasion flick and The Final Days Of Planet Earth looked to be just that. An entertaining way to pass three hours. Sadly, it wasn't as fantastic as I originally thought.

One reason was the writing and its implausible developments, especially the mantis-people. I commend the writer's choice of bug; not many would use a praying mantis as the basis for a science fiction tale. The problem is the meat suits they wear. I was okay with the ingestion of the young lava and them growing within a human to control their bodies. What didn't gell was their emergence. After shucking off our flesh, they stand taller than us and have six legs and a big rear appendage, similar to a wasps. Now, how the hell did they get all of that into their flesh sack? There's also a lot to accept for granted. The mining on the moon and the disturbance of an alien race, for one. And the acceptance that everyone on that mission now works in the same government facility - city hall. It feels like these were written merely to further the writer's basic alien invasion idea. And to a certain extent, you can forgive them as the story is quite entertaining, thanks to the various characters it holds. Without them and their pursuit of truth and retaliation, the story would be a flop.

Luckily for the viewers, the director is a dab hand at keeping the excitement and interest flowing. He crafts a pacy tempo and uses every ploy in his director's bag of tricks to keep your eyes on the screen and smooth over any injuries. It works so well that you sometimes forget there's a giant bug in that tiny human skin. Until they pop out, and then you're all incredulous and mocking. But the action starts again, and the tension builds as you wonder if our unlikely band of accidental heroes will win the day. The director swept me away from the unbelievable. And that is no small thing to achieve.

I have never been a big fan of either Daryl Hannah or Gil Bellows. However, they surprised me as Liz Quinlan and Lloyd Walker. Final Days are one of their better projects. And, it helps that the other cast members are as strong, if not stronger, in their performances. I particularly like Beau Starr as Oliver, the army veteran with a heart. However, it was Suleka Mathew as Marianne, who made the picture for me. She is the best character in the bunch, sassy, witty, sturdy, and heroic. I especially liked the begrudging chemistry that Marianne and Llyod have going. It's more like a real relationship and not a fairytale one.

I would say, Final Days is ideal Sunday Afternoon or Crumpet Breakfast fodder. You don't need to engage your brain to enjoy it - truth is, it's better if you don't. So if you love your B-Movie alien invasion Sci-Fi flicks, you could do worse than The Final Days Of Planet Earth, which is worth one watch.

Please feel free to visit my Absolute Horror, The Final Frontier, and Monstrous lists to see where I ranked The Final Days Of Planet Earth.

Take Care & Stay Well.

solid B film

[wrlang · 7/10 · 14 October 2006]

Its getting harder and harder to get any original ideas for films. I guess the old standards make money and that's the key. Final Days of Planet Earth is about alien insects that make their way to earth to colonize earth using humans as fodder – literally. Good acting from a very solid and well established cast and some good writing takes the slight twist on Invasion of The Body Snatchers and makes it good. While the plot languishes, the CGI is good, and the cinematography is also good. The action and story move along just fast enough to keep your interest. A good solid B movie with no pretense toward block buster status.

A good movie to clean your house on a Lazy Sunday

[pmorris-70899 · 3 October 2023]

I liked it. It is one of those movies you can lay on the couch and relax and pay attention to if you want of nap a bit and watch and keep napping, or clean your house a hit while it plays, and stop and watch for a second and listen to as you clean. I liked the characters, and they all acted decently, I suppose. I found it on YouTube in two parts, and since I was bored I decided to give it a go. Some scenes were over the top, but what do you expect, Leonardo dicaprio fighting Aliens? If you wanna spend a lazy weekend day snacking or doing something that needs a good distraction...thisnis the movie!

I actually liked the plot. I give it a C+!

Average but watchable

[evilscott-1 · 4/10 · 6 November 2006]

This does require some interest in Sci Fi,because those without an interest in sci fi or an open mind to a certain possibility that the human race is going to be taken over by bad actors,i mean giant praying mantis then you will stop watching after the first 45 minutes. I was wondering if anything mildly relating to the beginning of the movie was going to be explained after the first hour,but there's a large black-spot in the films time line from the beginning as you see it to the present,and when you do find out you have already worked it out. I always thought storytellers told us the viewer the story,not us already knowing whats going on after you have made logical deductions whilst enduring this long TV film. It needed to be an hour and a half max,but its been filled with drawn out scenes which have little substance to the movie. The redeeming feature was that Darryl Hannah still looks hot,despite being an insect underneath.

Gripping sci-fi

[isaged · 8/10 · 28 July 2012]

As usual, I seem to be in the minority around here. More so than usual, though, this time. Although this film was a bit confusing in places, its special effects were splendid, its acting fair to quite good … I was pleasantly surprised by how well Daryl Hannah handled her two-persona role, and its story was engrossing. Excellent chase scenes, a nightmarish lab set, fine underground abandoned subway sets (loved those dangling roots!), and pretty good sustaining of tension. Twenty or so years ago, the notion of a pervasive cover-up plot involving governments at all levels would have seemed ridiculous paranoia. Not today, gang! Even though I have had fine experiences with our local police, I follow the national news, and a plot in which the police are armed, dangerous, and menaces to all good people is no longer ridiculous either. Even the inconsiderate ambitions of the aliens were, to this since-the-early-1940s sci-fi fan, quite plausible. In most reviews I make wise cracks, but not this time. Congratulations to cast, crew, computer techs, producer and director! I intend to watch this movie again.

Watch Out for THEM!

[wes-connors · 6/10 · 18 January 2010]

After what appears to be a minor mishap, digging for samples on the Moon, "Pericles" space mission leader Campbell Scott (as William "Billy" Phillips) arranges to return safely to home planet Earth. While Mr. Scott sleeps, a "security breach" begins dismembering his crew. Only Scott and female passenger Daryl Hannah (as Elizabeth "Liz" Quinlan) escape to Earth. There, Scott mysteriously disappears and Ms. Hannah goes to work at San Francisco's City Hall.

Also on the ground, archaeologist Gil Bellows (as Lloyd Walker) explains his work to some grade kids on a field trip, "When you dig a hole, you travel back in time," he states. Shapely exterminator Suleka "Sue" Mathew (as Marianne) is upset with the graphic nature of Mr. Bellows' tour speech, which scares her nephew. That night, one of Bellows' young workers, Ryan McDonell (as Jonathan Gillis), is swallowed into the earth after a prank. And, he's not the only one…

Underground city workers are mysteriously vanishing; but, the "accidents" and disappearances are all being swept under the rug. This irks Bellows (he turns out to be the lead actor in this science-fiction drama, which weaves its various characters interestingly into the storyline). He is contacted by stealthy John Cassini (as Jake Roth), and the men begin piecing together a terrifying conspiracy, including a possible alien invasion, which could lead to the "Final Days of Planet Earth"!

"There's only one puzzle here, okay Walker?" Mr. Cassini advises Bellows, "Until you put your pieces on the table, it's not gonna get finished." Not sure who to trust, Bellows begins to investigate some slimy, green-bleeding blobs hidden in San Francisco's underground. He enlists the help of former astronaut Hannah (remember her from the opening Moon mission). Hannah, who is working with city commissioner Serge Houde (as Korshaft), warns "Careful where you dig."

Meanwhile, used car salesman Patrick Gilmore (as Spence) is having trouble collecting unemployment, after getting laid off; immigrants Tygh Runyan (as Nick) and Tina Milo (as Bella) worry about her husband, who is among the missing; and, homeless shelter worker Beau Starr (as Oliver), still mourning the passing of his wife Amanda, notices something unusual in the woods. They, and most of the other characters in the drama, are directed to "Room 86" for assistance...

Enter "Room 86" at your own risk! - but don't avoid "Final Days of Planet Earth" like the plague of long, lackluster TV movie extravaganzas it gets lumped with. It is too long, and unravels much during the first half of the second part; but, this is surprisingly above average "Hallmark" television production. The story, by Christian Ford and Roger Soffer nicely updates paranoid 1950s thrillers, like "Them!" (1954). Director Rob Lieberman and star Bellows keep it moving.

But, San Francisco? Have the filmmakers ever been there?

****** Final Days of Planet Earth (3/15-16/06) Robert Lieberman ~ Gil Bellows, Daryl Hannah, Suleka Mathew, Campbell Scott

For an uneventful Sunday afternoon

[gvzfs · 1/10 · 22 September 2013]

So astronauts all get mediocre jobs when or rather if they get back from a lunar mission ? I would have thought they would be touring like rock stars and getting head from high school groupies. But not this lot, oh but no, they are hell bend on taking down all we hold true. Unrelated to the cockroaches of earth they share a kindred need for dark and isolated places for their dormant taken-straight-out-of body snatchers burial of cocooned agents. When they fart it explodes, maybe we do share a few things with these newcomers, and perhaps the megalomaniac attempt to eat up the ruling classes of our society through city hall will sooner or later bear fruit.

Darryl Hannah owes me a dollar

[mikemdp · 12 June 2012]

Dear Darryl Hannah,

I picked this one up at the dollar store. You owe me a dollar. Or coffee at Dunk's.

I promise not to bring up how "Splash" and "Roxanne" were apparently flukes.

I promise not to say "Botox" or anything that rhymes with "Botox" as a snarky way of saying "Botox."

I promise not to mention "At Play in the Fields of the Lord" or "Clan of the Cave Bear," even though both those dreadful movies that nobody under the age of 40 ever heard of were far superior to this.

I promise not to ask you what you had to do with Quentin Tarantino to get into those "Kill Bill" movies. If only because Roxanne/Popeye coupling is so disturbing to imagine.

I promise not to say "Australian Mini-Series" in a Paul Hogan accent.

I promise not to say "What the hell happened to your career?" in a Paul Hogan accent.

Finally, I promise to use this DVD as a coaster when we get that coffee at Dunk's.

Sincerely,

That Guy Who Saw You In "Splash" And "Roxanne" And Thought You Were The Bees Knees But Now Wonders What The Hell He Was Thinking